WHICH GUNS WOULD YOU SAVE?

A friend had that situation. He did manage to get most of his many guns out (he had several trucks) but lost a large stash of ammo. House and lots of hunting trophies were lost.

If I had a few minutes, I would take my grandfather’s shotgun, my father’s deer rifle, my first duty revolver, an AR-15 and a couple of CC handguns. I’ve thought about this as we have been inundated with Canadian wildfire smoke this summer.

well, during a MAG 40 class my “instructor” said on smoke break once, “…never divulge your inventory to strangers…” so i’ll leave it at that…

Interesting question…especially if you live some place where your acquisition of certain firearms you now own is forbidden, but your current ones are grudgingly allowed. Also, if you have firearms insurance-and how much.

You can replace ammunition, but a late friend claimed to have had 12K rounds of .223. That, and your powder/primer stock might get exciting in a fire, depending upon how it’s stored.

As the article notes, there are some guns with emotional pull. Some guns have intrinsic value, others are tools. Also depends upon how much time you’ve got. There’s a couple of defensive handguns and long guns that’d get loaded first-actually, I’d be wearing at least one. After that, it’d depend upon how much time & room would be available. Dawns upon me that computer backups would need to go too.

If I’ve already ensured my family and our documents are safe and I’m down to saving firearms, I’m saving all of them. I don’t have so many that “all of them” is an impractical answer.

I’m not sure if that’s a blessing or a curse, but there it is.

That’s all hypothetical, of course. I lost all my guns years ago in a tragic canoe accident, but if I did still have them and I were saving them from a fire, I’d grab all of them.

As a resident of Cali, I was thinking about this as the Runyon fire closed in. Luckily I didn’t have to bug out and if I did, all my handguns would have gone in a bag. But if I could only take one it would be my late dad’s Colt Detective special that he carried for almost 50 years (NYPD) that I now carry regularly. I was 10 when he purchased it in 1970 and carrying it daily brings back warm memories and a feeling he is watching over me.

Probably just my carry weapon. I would grab a spare magazine if time allowed. If there were a two or three minutes to spare, I would open the safe and grab my M1-A Socom – bought because I pay attention to what you write!

The G45s and my Beretta 1301 shotgun. And a case of duty ammo for each.

1. My WWI-era Colt M1911 (built less than a month before “The Great War” ended).

2. My Operation Enduring Freedom US Air Force commemorative edition (1,000 produced for each branch of service) Beretta M9.

3. My Second Decade (US Armed Forces 20th Anniversary 1985-2005) Beretta M9.

Hey Mas, speaking of the Beretta 92, my book draft on the 50th anniversary of that pistol series is almost complete! I quote you heavily therein, so thanks so much for that that terrific source material!

I think, for me, it depends on how much time I have and how many I could carry. The first thing that comes to mind is a case containing a Colt Official Police and Detective Special. They were both my late father’s issued sidearms when he was an NYPD officer in the 60’s and 70’s and have great sentimental value. Beyond that, a case containing a few WWI and WWII vintage 1911s would go. Beyond that, my Wilson Combat Hackathorn Special Commander and my Wilson “Wil-Bur” Berretta 92G Compact I took with me to MAG40 would be next to save.

I can’t imagine losing so many personal possessions in such a tragedy. What would be a the top of your list, Mas?

I would have grabbed my 1911, M1A, Mossbeg 590, and ammo. Done, done, and done.

My house actually caught fire last week. Volunteer firemen formed a bucket brigade and saved them all. All my ammo and reloading supplies came through but my presses, dies, and various reloading and gunsmithery tools got wet and were rusted up the next day. If they hadn’t stopped it before it got to the gunroom? My EDC and 1 spare mag in my pocket. I got damn lucky. The most important thing was me and all the dogs got out OK!

Just read Blacks Law.
Good show Mas!
Hell of a book!

I would first grab the long arms and handguns that were tools designed for self-defense. Protecting your family comes first and everything else can be replaced. I have always told my daughter to never waste your time loving something that cannot love you back. Pets would also come before property rescue.

I have too many to grab and go. I think I would take the cash in the safe to make any relocation little easier. If I had time I would scoop up my grail gun, a Freedom Arms m97 in .357mag and a Rossi m92 also in .357. (just for a handy rifle, it has no special value) My carry gun will be on me unless the call come in the night, but my bedside Ruger SP101 would be easy to snatch up. If there were a minute more, I have a .41 mag. Blackhawk that belonged to my late son-in-law I would take so my grandson would have it once he’s old enough. Everything else is easily replaced, or I could live without. I’d get my wife out first, of course. Otherwise I would have to answer to my 4 kids and 8 grands, to whom she is pretty special.

If I were facing such a situation,I’d fire up my trusty old trackhoe and amble over to the preidentified part of the yard (furthest from other structures) and dig a deep hole, sorta flat on the bottom, then go empty out the big chest freezer abd drrag it over. Pick it up with the ‘hoe and drop it in. then spend what time I have piling all my pieces of “iron” and close the lid. If I had any around, I’d put a few layers of sheetrock on top of the freezer, then pile the spoils from the hole up loose and high.
I’d keep out a small handful of the most useful tools to take along when I leave.

I do live in an area that is fairly well wooded, and spreads for a few miles in every direction except the water, half a mile to my west. so this scenario is not impossible.

In my selection of items to take, I would heavily favour the ones which I know have no paper trail to my house. “All the rest perished in the Great fire of 202X”

How does having a quality gun safe play into this question.? I would take what I need for protection, probably a G17 and AR15 along with all the ammunition and reloading powder/primers I could get out the door to my truck. Likely all of it as it isn’t that much. For the rest I would lean on the effectiveness of my gun safe.

Depending on the time, I would grab up the long guns, then toss the handguns in a bag … all pretty quick. All the supplies would just take their chances.

Alternatively, if I had no way to carry a heavy load, then I would toss all the guns into the deep end of the pool and hope for a speedy recovery and cleanout.

I would have the carry guns and likely grab the 120yr-old family 25-35Win and the ammo beside it. The handguns for close defense and the rifle for nostalgia but also if things got desperate.

My girlfriend has family that live in Canada’s wildfire-country in eastern BC, and tells me that they’ve adopted a practice of prepacking go-bags with documents, financial instruments and other valuables right at the start of fire season so they can grab-and-go.

If the Old Crab, critters (can’t really pack up a pack of squirrels so I gotta hope they bug out on their own then come back and find me afterward), and valuables are checked off and ready to roll, it’s the guns that are irreplaceable first – family heirlooms, personal mementoes and grandfathered pre-bans. After that it’s “as time allows” with “most useful” first and “toys” last.

My most important documents are already stored in a bank safe deposit box. As for the firearms, I would grab the handguns first because they are smaller, quicker to grab, and could be stuffed into my vehicle quickly. If there was time, I would then grab a few of my nicer long guns.

It would not be feasible to move everything quickly. Between the handguns, long-guns, reloading equipment, ammo, books, etc., I have far, far, far too much to move with single vehicle trip. Not unless my vehicle was an 18-wheeler!

If most of my collection burned, then I would have to pray that insurance would cover most of it, get in touch with my inner Buddhist, and tap into the Power of Non-attachment to Material Objects! 🙂

Possessions expand to fill the space available for them. I am as much of a pack rat as most modern humans. The old “Hunter-Gatherer” days, whereby one wanders from place to place carrying a bare minimal of survival necessities, are long gone.

My Remington 3000 shotgun and plenty of bandoleers of assorted Varity of assorted 12-gage “shells”. 🙂

Is there a danger from ammo being set off from the heat?
Should one keep clear of the house?

Simple, an AR-15 “pistol” in my hands and a 9MM on my side.

In America, and places like America, we are blessed to have nice things. Still, the advice from Miyamoto Musashi in 1645 is relevant. “Warriors should not have favorite weapons.” The point being, a warrior should be able to pick up any weapon on the battlefield, and make it work. Our modern Special Forces warriors are trained to do exactly that.

Also, remember the song by Kansas, “Everything is Dust in the Wind.” Even so, I would salvage as much as I could safely salvage. My guns are useful, but not precious.

Id save the one I was wearing.

All of them, as I own only five handguns and ten long guns.

Now, while this is still fresh in your mind, get to the task of pre-staging your stuff. Similar to a B-O-B, have it ready to go in a moment’s notice.
I recall reading an old Backwoodsman magazine article, of a contributing editor to one of the great 60’s-era DIY mags, Popular Mechanics/Popular Science comes to mind, where his boss arrived with a couple other members of his staff, and gave him this assignment: “You have 10-minutes to scoop your gear, along with your family, and get out of Dodge”. “Gather what you think you’ll need, now, the clock is running”. Recall, this was in the time of the Cold War, we’d just had the Cuban Missile crisis, so it was a hot topic.
This author had a place go where he and family camped and fished. He had almost a full tank of gas in the family station wagon and knew the way. He says his wife grabbed what she thought was needed, he took what he thought important as well.
There was no mention of “how-long” the assignment was to last.
It was one of those continuing stories, so you’d buy next month’s issue to see what happened.
So, you’ve got more than just those 10-minutes. Pre-plan, Pre-stage, make ready.

A couple of points that no one really hit – 1) how big of a vehicle do ya have? 2) do ya have a secure place to go to or would you be subject to the whims of emergency workers – who might direct you to a non-permissive environment.
BTW – if you are waiting until the last few minutes to do an emergency evac you probably haven’t been paying enough attention to the changing circumstances. NOT saying that any of us could get caught off guard but planning for ‘what ifs’ really is important.

I bought a really exceptional Fort Knox safe to hopefully mitigate this question / issue

I keep mine in a fireproof safe but if I had to grab some and run for a reason other than fire I’d take a pistol and rifle and as much ammo as I could carry.

My shotgun, compact striker fire and my revolver.